Have you ever been to a street festival and purchased or watched someone eat one of those huge smoked turkey legs? They go for $10 or more, but they are really delicious! They are easy to do at home! The secret to the awesome flavor is as simple as a little curing salt in your brine and an adequate amount of smoke on the grill! Here’s the brine / cure recipe I used for these:
Turkey Leg Cure
1 quart of water
1/4 cup kosher salt
1/4 cup molasses
4 cloves smashed garlic
1 t black peppercorns
1 small bunch of fresh thyme
A few fresh sage leaves
1/4 tsp MSG (optional)
dash of hot sauce
1 1/2 tsp prague powder #1 curing salt
I let mine cure for between 18-24 hours. Don’t let them go longer than 24 hours.
I set up my Kamado Joe Classic 3 grill for indirect cooking with the SLoROLLER in place. I started out at 225°F for about 45 minutes with a chunk of hickory wood for some smoke. Then I removed the legs from the grill and ramped the temp up to 425°F to finish the cook and help crisp up the skin a little. The second segment of this cook took about 25 minutes to bring the temperature of the leg meat up to 165-170°F. I wrapped them in foil and let them rest for 20 minutes after the cook. Turkey (and chicken) legs can be cooked to an internal temperature of anywhere between about 165-190°F without much worry.
Original of the video here
BBQ Sause Recipes
BBQ Chicken Recipes
BBQ Pork Recipes
BBQ Beef Recipes
BBQ Turkey Recipes
Video Transcription
hey guys I’m John Setzler welcome backto another episode of mancave mealstoday we’re gonna fire up the commaderdo classic 3 and I bought some of thesehuge turkey legs that weigh about apound apiece we’re gonna make some ofthose festival style smoked turkey legsso let’s get started[Music]the first thing I want to do to getthese turkey legs started in therecuring Brian is make the brine so I’vegot a quart of water on the stove herein a saucepan that I’m heating up tothat I’m gonna add a quarter of a cup ofkosher saltand then we’re gonna add about a quarterof a cup a molasses to go along withthat I’ve got four cloves of garlic thatI’ve just smashed I’ve got a bunch asmall bunch here of sage leaves that arefresh I’ve got a small bunch of freshthyme that we’re gonna put right inthere and I’ve got some whole blackpeppercorns and this is optional I’mgonna add a very small amount of MSG tomine what you can take or leave and thenI’m just going to put the lid on thisand bring this up to a simmer after thiscomes up to a slow simmer we’re gonnalet it slow simmer here for about tenminutes or so and I think I’m also gonnaadd just a little dash of hot sauce tothis mix and I’m gonna let this simmerhere like I said for about ten minutesand then we’ll be back to move on andafter that’s been simmering there for acouple of minutes I’m just gonna turnthe heat off and then I’m gonna add mypink curing salt which is prog powdernumber one and I’m gonna stir that inand I’m gonna take this off the burnerand we’re gonna let this cool for a fewminutes and once it’s cooled a bit I’mgonna put it in another container I’mgonna put it in the refrigerator andthen we’re gonna chill this completelyfor three or four hours okay after Ichilled my brine I have four of thesebig turkey legs that weigh about a poundapiece and I’ve taken these and put themin a one gallon ziplock bag and I’ve putmy entire quart of Brian in there withit which is almost enough to completelysubmerge these I got most of the air outof here but we’re going to let this curein the refrigerator for anywhere between18 to 24 hoursand if you’re doing it this way withoutusing a vacuum seal just come by youknow once or twice during the processand flip these over and we’ll be backtomorrow to cook these I’ve gone aheadand lit a fire in the center of thefirebox in my kimono drew classic threeand I’m gonna put a chunk of hickorywood on here to create a little bit ofsmoke and I’m gonna put the cap back onthe slow roller and I’m gonna set bothhalves of the grill grate here in thelower position and while this grillscoming up to temperature we’re gonna getour turkey legs readyI’m gonna use the I command today andwe’re gonna start this cook out at 225degreesI’ve taken my turkey legs here out ofthe curing brine I’ve rinsed them offcompletely and I’ve patted them dry witha paper towel so we’re just gonna letthose sit here for a moment until ourgrill comes up to temperature all rightour grill is up to temperature and I’vegot a nice light smoke rolling here sowe’re gonna set these four big turkeylegs right here on top of the slowroller and we’re gonna let these smokeat about 225 here for 30 or 45 minutesto get a good coat of smoke going hereand then we’re going to come back andramp the temperature up we’ve been goinghere about 45 minutes or so and I’mpretty happy with the color of smokethat we have here so I’m going to pullthese off momentarily and I’m gonna usethe I command to ramp the temp up inthis grill to about 425 to finish theseso we’ll warm it up and be right backI’ve wrapped my temperature up here toabout 425 so we’re gonna toss these guysright back on the grill and I’m gonnalet these cook till I get the meat up toan internal temperature of about 165maybe 170 so we’ll be back shortlyI’ve let these guys come up to between165 and 170 and the thick part of thatmeat and these are ready so I’m gonnayank these off of here and we’re gonnalet them rest for a little bithere you have it these things arebeautiful they have a fantastic smokearoma when you want to make a statementwith smoke use Hickory and that’s whatI’ve done here these things are amazingyou’re gonna have to give these a trylet me know what you think join me onfacebook facebook.com slash mancavemeals and until next time this is Johnsex[Music]
